BusRoads Buzz: March 2016

A Riverwalk Selfie

Greetings!

What do you call it when there are freezing hail warnings one minute and temperatures in the 90s the next? We call in San Antonio in the springtime. As you probably know, the severe weather has been no joke in parts of the country for the past month and we hope that you and yours are managing safely. The Texas extremes we're experiencing have not hindered us from doing our Native flute and percussion concerts, going to the fitness center at Fort Sam Houston where we are camped, cooking Tex-Mex meals, playing disc golf and celebrating two March holidays – St. David's Day and St. Patrick's Day. We hope that you, too, are enjoying some of the good things that early spring has to offer. ~ Brian & Andi

Wish You Were Here

Having made several visits to San Antonio, we were eager to experience a nice affordable attraction other than those we had already done, namely the Riverwalk, La Villita, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Alamo, and El Mercado. The perfect answer for us was the Briscoe Western Art Museum. This collection of paintings, sculptures, photos, artifacts and tasteful audio-visual displays depicting past and present life in the American West is conveniently located right on the Riverwalk. We decided to tackle it on a warm, steamy Saturday afternoon, intentionally choosing a busy time just to immerse ourselves in the Riverwalk's festive hustle and bustle. We almost got more than we bargained for as we shared the narrow canal walkways with backpacked students, families with strollers, sunburned couples carrying margaritas to-go, and aproned outdoor waiters. After winding our way past umbrella-shaded restaurant tables (heaped with nachos, enchiladas, burritos and more margaritas) we found the museum across from La Villita. It is housed in San Antonio's historic first library, with a gracious, soaring lobby featuring a deeply carved wooden ceiling of rosettes in recessed squares.

Not overly large, the museum displays are contained in a few small rooms spread over three floors. The result was that we could take our time are really look at everything without becoming numb. One painting depicted and small village of teepees in the cold, flat light of winter. Another showed a bronco rider who had just gone airborne from his bucking steed. There was a nearly life-sized statue of a cougar, an ornate guitar inlaid with mother of pearl, photographs of Native Americans of the past and pioneer trains bringing the future, an authentic chuck wagon, a stage coach and a spinning windmill. Many displays had small touchscreens and headphones for more detailed information. The late Texas governor Briscoe would be proud of his namesake museum as it informs folks of today about western history and heritage. (See more of the museum collection in the photo collage below.)

Life On The Road

Living in thin walls and outdoor spaces while RVing can make you acutely aware of the weather. Our winter itineraries are designed to take us to locations that usually have decent weather for this indoor/outdoor lifestyle. Once in a while, though, Mother Nature throws us a curve ball, as was the case with the recent Texas storms. When talk of severe overnight thunderstorms began to give specifics like, "60 to 70 mile-an-hour winds" and "golf ball-sized hail" we had to make a decision – stay in the exposed RV park, make a run for it to a geographical location with better weather, or seek shelter locally.

See San Antonio in the middle??

The area of severe weather was so vast that we would not have been able to drive far enough to reach safety. Going to bed in the campground with the possibility of waking up to the sound of damaging hail was worrisome, too. Finally we decided that having a little RV gave us the option to seek cover for ourselves and our rig. We found it on Google Maps in the form of a nearby concrete block carwash. It was dark in the RV park when we pulled out of our campsite. Lights shown from neighboring motorhomes and crickets were making a racket The air was thick and hot, with humidity approaching 100%. We had no trouble finding the carwash and the bays were easily high enough for us to fit without danger, so we tucked Sierra in and waited to see what would happen.

No rain was falling yet but tornado warnings for a nearby county crackled out of our tiny weather radio. We phoned a couple of folks to tell them we were safe, checked the doppler map on our tablet computer, played Farkle, read books and watched a few cars drive by in the dark. Still no rain nearly 2 hours after we had taken cover. Then around 11:30 pm we began to hear thunder, followed by fat drops of rain. We looked southwest through our open back door in the direction of the oncoming storm and saw sheets of bright lightening. Sometimes a bolt would stab down to the ground. Rain fell in curtains. There was a tremendous bang and we felt the ground shake as the storm exploded right around us. We slammed and locked the door, staying huddled inside for the rest of the show. This type of weather ebbed and flowed for a couple of hours as we sat in the front seats watching and dozing. Gradually the dark world became quiet and still. The clouds lifted and we could make out distant lights that had been invisible during the storm. We were glad (but admittedly somewhat disappointed) that there was never any hail, and at about 4:00 am we coasted quietly back into our RV space at Fort Sam.

Did You Know?

St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, is commonly celebrated throughout much of the US, but we also like to honor St. David, the patron saint of Wales, on March 1st. This usually entails buying daffodils, eating leeks in some form and flying the red dragon flag of Wales. Looking for more party opportunities? How about St. George's Day (England) on April 23rd or St. Andrew's Day (Scotland) on November 30th?

Coffee Chat

We enjoy watching the many dog walkers who are out exercising man's best friend in every RV park we visit. Sometimes we think we are the only ones without a dog! Occasionally the animals are large but usually RVers have dogs that are on the smaller side. One pair of neighbors stopped to tell us about the small brown and black dog on their leash. It was a dachshund/yorkie mix called, you guessed it, a "dorkie". They had been doing a nationwide search for just the right rescue dog to adopt. They even knew they wanted to name it "Bella" when they got it. When they saw the description of this dog it sounded just right but they wondered where in the country they would have to go to see it. It turned out to be 12 miles away from where they were. They went, they saw, they adopted. And the dog's original name? Belle.